KATHMANDU, AUGUST 13
Kathmandu Metropolitan City has provided free legal aid service to around 10,000 beneficiaries over a period of five months.
According to KMC, the service was provided through intern students by signing an agreement with Nepal Law Campus.
Last year, KMC had signed an agreement for mobilisation of undergraduate and postgraduate students of Nepal Law Campus as interns. After completing the selection process and orientation of students, providing free legal aid service was formally started. All the interns were trained and 32 persons were assigned to the wards and two persons to the centre. After the expiry of the contract, KMC and the campus renewed it last week.
In the agreement, chief administrative officer of the metropolis Basant Adhikari and campus chief Dinanath Parajuli signed the renewed agreement. CAO Adhikari said the service provided by campus students during the period of five months practice had made the programme indispensable.
"We have also witnessed improved service delivery. The federal governance system is implemented at various wards of the local level," he said.
"We received many responses. All of them were positive. It is a matter of pride for us to be able to measure the performance of our students.''
Prof Krishna Prasad Basyal of the Institute of Law said, "Both the campus and students should be proud of the programme that has yielded immediate results from the work done so far."
Campus chief Parajuli said other municipalities had also sought this kind of cooperation. Similarly, Basanta Acharya, the head of the law and human rights department of the metropolis, mentioned that 10,000 service-seekers had been provided with verbal oral and written services free of charge.
As per the agreement, students studying at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels of the campus will be employed as interns for providing legal aid service.
The main responsibility of the intern will be to draft general petitions, complaint petitions, complaint letters, response letters, draft written answers, and provide oral complaint counselling.
The metropolis will provide intern students with their scope and terms of references regarding legal aid service to the beneficiaries. When facilitating the service-seekers, the interns should prepare legal documents based on the evidences and facts. The format of the legal document will be in accordance with the prevailing law.
The metropolis provides a monthly stipend of Rs 15,000 to each student. It is expected that administrative and judicial access will be easier for senior citizens, persons with disabilities, minors, people who have suffered injustice, various classes and communities, among others.
A version of this article appears in the print on August 14, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
